UCF coach George O'Leary says Jeff Godfrey decision to come this week

UCF head coach George O’Leary said Monday night that he will decide later this week whether he will allow former starting quarterback back Jeff Godfrey back on the team.

O’Leary touched on the topic during Monday’s UKnight tour stop at UCF’s J. Rolfe Davis Recruiting Lounge. A fan asked O’Leary how he evaluated the Knights’ current quarterbacks and who would start with Godfrey gone. O’Leary responded:

“Not so quick,” O’Leary said jokingly before shifting to a more serious tone. “I still have to sit down and make a decision on Jeff. Some things have to be done and I’m going to make a decision before this week’s out. I had a good conversation with him, but things have to be taken care of from a sanction standpoint and [there were] other things that were said that need to be rectified.”

After leading the Knights to the 2010 Conference USA title and a 2010 Liberty Bowl victory over Georgia as a freshman, Godfrey had a disappointing sophomore season, Eventually, redshirt freshman Blake Bortles earned significant playing time and even outperformed Godfrey at times during the team’s 5-7 campaign.

Following the down year, the Miami Central product informed O’Leary in December that he would not be returning to the team. UCF released a public statement December 12 declaring that Godfrey was ineligible to participate in spring practice due to an undisclosed violation of university policy unrelated to the football program.

Godfrey told FAUOwlAccess.com several months ago that he was considering a transfer to FAU, but began mentioning a possible return to UCF earlier this month via his Twitter account.

O’Leary and Godfrey have met at least once to discuss his possible return to the team, but O’Leary was quick to mention on Monday that Bortles was the incumbent starter.

“It’s Blake Bortles’ football team right now,” said O’Leary, who then brought up quarterback Tyler Gabbert, a transfer from Missouri and a former four-star quarterback prospect by Scout.com.

“Gabbert’s coming in, Tyler, who has some grass under his feet. He’s played at Missouri as far as on the show teams and played there, so he’s not coming in as a true rookie. That’s going to be the first two and then we’ll move from there.”

Gabbert begins summer school at UCF in May. A sophomore, he will be eligible to play in 2012.